TABLE 8 POTV EFFLUENTS velocity of 7.6 km/sec. One expects, therefore, that the ambient atmosphere will be moving at a velocity slightly smaller than 7.6 km/sec., which means that the effluents from Burns 4 and 5 will eventually fall if they are in the gaseous state. For the same reason, if the effluents from Burn 1 are in the gaseous state, they will be accelerated by the ambient gas molecules. Their speed of falling will be considerably slower than otherwise. 3.1.4 Effect of H2O/H2 Injections on Geocoronally Scattered Lyman-a and Lyman-g Radiation (Prasad and Forbes) The massive injection of hydrogen atoms due to propulsion effluents in the upper thermosphere might increase the amount of hydrogen escaping from the earth's atmosphere, because it may enhance the slow diffusion of hydrogencontaining compounds up from the lower atmosphere. This effect may cause an increase in the amount of Lyman-a and Lyman-g radiation that is geocoronally scattered into the nighttime ionosphere. The ionization of NO below 100 km and of O2 above 100 km by geocoronally scattered Lyman-a and Lyman-g radiation, respectively, are important mechanisms for maintaining the nighttime D- and E-region ionization. Changing the lower ionosphere at night will change the ionospheric conductivity and perturb VLF communication links. 3.2 . MORPHOLOGY OF PERTURBED IONOSPHERIC REGIONS (Fedder) 3.2.1 Ionospheric Depletion due to a Single Burn At altitudes above about 160-180 km most ambient atmospheric ions are atomic, mainly 0"r, and recombine very slowly with free electrons. However, in the presence of additional ^0 or H2 molecules, the positive ion changes by
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